Dave Ellefson stood at the side of Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine from 1983 until the band broke up in 2002. While Mustaine put the band back together shortly afterwards, Ellefson was not a part of the new lineup.

Eight years later, with a lot of water under the bridge, Ellefson has returned to his former band. Since his return, the Thrash scene has exploded as the Big 4 Tour, featuring Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, have fans around the world chomping at the bit. The Big 4 will make their American debut on September 14^th at Yankee Stadium, but in the meantime, Megadeth is touring the USA on the Mayhem Tour, which also features Godsmack and Disturbed.

In the interview that follows, Ellefson discusses both the Mayhem and Big 4 dates, how Megadeth and Metallica are co-existing peacefully and how his friend and band mate, Dave Mustaine, differ in their views concerning recovery from addiction.

Look for Megadeth on the Mayhem Tour throughout the summer and be sure to keep your eye peeled for Megadeth’s new album, 13, to be released this November.

Dave: It feels great. There is a really powerful thrust behind what is happening right now. Momentum feeds momentum and the hardest thing to get going is momentum. Any musician who reads this will understand that to try to get that mojo going is difficult.

2010 was kind of the return of Megadeth. Megadeth had been working, making records and touring but the stars really aligned for us last year. It was a great time for me to come back and I think that was just the exclamation point on an already big sentence for us. With the Big 4, the 20^th anniversary of Rust in Peace and Slayer and Megadeth back touring together, it has been something. Ultimately, the Clash of the Titans tour was really great. We didn’t call it that because officially it was the Jagermeister Tour, but it was Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth all on tour together. If you’re a head-banger, it was a ‘die and go to heaven’ sort of year.

Dave: When Marty stepped away from the band it was a big blow to the Megadeth family. The fans really admired that lineup. It was hard when we had to make the change with Nick Mensa. Jimmy [DeGrasso] was a fantastic drummer and came in under some difficult circumstances. When Marty stepped away, though, that was really rough.

It is interesting; when we made the Rust in Peace album, it was essentially a reformation of the band. It was Dave and me and we brought in Nick and Marty, and that was really a reformation of the band. We didn’t consciously think about it that way, but we had stopped, and we were off the road for a year and a half. The cycle of events that happened this time really reformed the group, as well. Oddly enough, that is almost exactly what happened now.

Dave: I actually didn’t think about it either, until you brought it up. The only difference is that we launched a brand new record in Rust in Peace with that lineup of the band. This time we got a whole year to take this around the track and tour together with this current lineup. The fans love Chris Broderick. He looks good in Megadeth and he sounds good in Megadeth. With my return back, it really looks and sounds like Megadeth again.

Dave: In 2010, we saw the kick start revival for Thrash, for sure. There have been a lot of bands since 2004 and 2005 that revitalized it for a new generation because all of these bands came up, essentially listening to records by the Big 4. A lot of those bands are very open that Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax were their influences. They sparked a whole new movement, so by the time that we did the Big 4 last year, it really came roaring back with a vengeance.

This year, we are out on the Mayhem Festival. We are still doing Big 4 dates too. The Big 4 candle has turned into a flame. With Mayhem, there is not only us, as the veteran band out here, there is Godsmack and Disturbed, who made a huge contribution to Metal in their own way. On the side stages there are all these brand new bands that are coming up the ranks. It is so cool that there is a healthy future for Metal coming up behind us.

Dave: It is cool to be on a tour where we are the veteran band, but it is also cool that we aren’t the ones closing the show. There is even a legacy beyond the glory days of the ‘90’s when MTV and radio really supported Megadeth.

Godsmack was actually on tour with us on the Risk Tour in 1999. They did some shows with us in England. There was a good buzz about them and they were the up and coming band. A few months later, they played before us at Woodstock and they were just ferocious. I remember watching Sully [Erna] singing that day and thinking that they had really come a long way in only a few months.

You want to inspire bands to come up, and then go on and do big things on their own, because that is what keeps the thing going. There is no future if you’re the last one in line.

Dave: It is nice to still have some firsts in your career. When you’ve been doing this a long time, you’ve seen and done a lot. It’s nice to know there are still big things that lie ahead.

Just last month, we played at Knebworth, and Megadeth had never been there before. As I understand, it was Queen’s last show and Led Zeppelin played there. It was a huge historical thing for us. Yankee Stadium is huge because it is new. They have only had a couple of shows there. I think Paul McCartney played there and Jay-Z was there. Joel Osteen was there, but I wouldn’t consider him a musician. For us to come in as a Metal Infantry, as a tribe, with our fans is great. The cool thing about the Big 4 is that it is so big that it can only fit in baseball and soccer stadiums. To me, that is a testament to our fans that have supported us over the years.

Dave: We played shows with Metallica in the past. The first one we did was at the San Francisco Civic Center on New Year’s Eve, 1985. We were getting ready to go in and record Peace Sells and Metallica had just recorded Master of Puppets. It was Metallica, Exodus, Metal Church and Megadeth. At the time, that was a huge show. Exodus was huge back in the Bay area at that time.

We did some stadium shows with Metallica back in 1993, which was the Black album for them and Countdown to Extinction for us. Those were huge shows. If everything had worked out differently than we would have done more of them, but we both had set schedules where we couldn’t work it out.

We’ve done shows with them, but the key is too really to do something that is more of a brotherhood. Metallica does not treat the Big 4 shows like it is Metallica with three other bands. They have really come into it and operated under the mindset that they are just one of the four bands on the show. That is so cool of them to do because they, obviously, got so popular over the years.

It is so respectful the way that this has run, everyone has acknowledged that these are the four bands that the fans hail, and these are the bands that the fans see as the significant members of a movement that probably wouldn’t exist without them. For everyone to come together as brothers of the tribe is a remarkable thing to see.

Dave: I think it was always musically legal to have Megadeth and Metallica records in your collection. It is cool that now you don’t have to choose sides. Everybody can come and enjoy the night out. It is also nice because you don’t hear six hours of the same songs all night. Some festivals get put together where the bands all tend to sound the same, where if you’ve heard one of them, then you’ve heard them all. Although we are all from the same genre, we are all very different sounding.

It is the same way on the Mayhem Tour. It is really a diverse lineup. It really covers a widespread section of music. It may be the most diverse tour I have ever been on. Our heritage goes way back to the early ‘80’s, and then you’ve got bands over on the side stages that are on their first time out. You also have Disturbed, Godsmack and Machine Head and everything in between. It is a pretty massive sonic footprint for Metal on the Mayhem Tour.

Dave: That is kind of part of the Ying and Yang, you know what I mean? It is funny that we are both named ‘Dave’ because we both want the same thing, but we both go about it on very, very different avenues. I think that’s the charm of Megadeth. I think that is what the fans missed when I wasn’t here, and it is the thing that they love now that I’m back. It isn’t just me; it’s how the two of us work together. If we were all on the edge then we’d probably fall over. If we were all safe and reserved, which is where I tend to be, then it wouldn’t be Megadeth. It takes the dynamic of both of us.

There is an axiom that I try to live by, and that is to live and let live. I live one way and Dave lives another way and we are both cool letting each other be their own man. It isn’t so much what we do individually; it’s what we do collectively that counts.

Dave: Basically, Mayhem is our summer vacation. We worked our tails off on a new album, which is mixed and in the can, and coming out November 1^st. We get to go around the country and have a fun summer before the work really begins to ramp up on the new album, which is called 13.

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